The living body is what continues

Note: Everything I have written here is the fruit of many years of study and repeated readings of Eugene Gendlin’s book A Process Model. However, the text reflects my own learning and understanding. It does not necessarily express additional layers in Gendlin’s writing. It is meant to make complex and innovative ideas more accessible and to support understanding. Nonetheless, it is not a substitute for reading the original—Gendlin’s book.

This is the beginning of Chapter 4. The chapter has two parts. Part A deals with the concept of the living body, as distinct from a machine. Part B deals with Gendlin’s concept of time, derived from the Implying-Occurring sequence..

The Living Body – Not a Machine

We tend to perceive the living body as composed of different systems. Each system with its own processes, which influence one another yet stand on their own. The respiratory system, the reproductive system, the digestive system, the circulatory system, and so on—each system stands by itself, though affected by others. For example, when a medical problem arises, we turn to a physician with a particular specialization – dermatology, cardiology, nephrology, etc.

Gendlin challenges this viewpoint of separate processes. He develops the concept of the living body and describes a far greater complexity. This complexity arises from a multiplicity of processes whose interaction precedes their formation. We will arrive at this gradually in the sequence of upcoming posts.

In the first section, he builds on the concept of the “stoppage.” When a particular process stops – the living body is the process that continues.

Imagine the following situation: you plan a journey to a remote destination, expecting adventures you have long awaited. After a long flight, you arrive at your destination, ready for fulfilling your dream. But then you stumble, fall, and strain your ankle. A serious strain—one that prevents you from putting weight on your foot. The walking process is in "stoppage". The leg hurts. Yet you continue the trip. The body is the process that continues, even if the usual walking process has stopped.

The Living Body Is the Process That Continues

When a certain aspect is missing, the living body cannot continue in the same way. Part of the usual process cannot go on. A separation is created between the process that has stopped and another process that continues. The living body is the new process that continues.

In our example, the stepping leg cannot continue as before. Therefore, the usual walking process cannot go on. But not only physical walking has changed. The whole body changes in light of the stopped process. Mood changes, appetite is different, sleep is affected, thoughts shift, topics of conversation change, self-image alters. The living body that continues without the stopped process continues—but it is different. The entire trip cannot proceed in the same way. Yet we do not stop or give up; we continue the trip. The body continues traveling, but differently—by motorcycle, by car, in ways we had not originally intended. The body, as it now is (with a non-functioning leg), continues.

When a certain process stops, a separation arises between the process that has stopped and the living body process that continues. In Gendlin’s words:

“If some aspect of en#2 is missing and the body does not die, it continues in an immediately different way. Some of the usual process will not go on. A distinction has been created.”

In what sense does a stopped process exist? After all, it does not continue. The walking process of the injured leg has stopped. In what sense does it still exist?

The walking process of the injured leg exists as long as the living body continues in a different way. The stopped process does not exist as itself, but is carried by the process that continues otherwise. It exists insofar as the living body that continues is different than what it could have been. The limp, or walking with crutches, carries the stopped process.

One could say that the changed occurring in the body carries the stoppage.

Resuming the Stopped Process

Suppose that after two weeks, the leg heals and it is finally possible to walk. The stopped process resumes. We might say that the body “recognizes” the missing object (for example, the healed leg), and the stopped process resumes. This is not “recognition” in the human sense. Even plants and simple animals can “recognize” at this level.

When the stoppage first occurs, the continuing process has never appeared in this way before—alone, without what has stopped. When the leg was injured, the body continued in a way it had never previously appeared. The body continues limping, using crutches, with a certain mood, a different self-image, thoughts and conversations unique to the situation, disturbances in sleep, and more. The body continues differently from how it has ever been.

Separate Processes?

Before the stoppage, were there already two processes—one that would stop and one that would continue? For example, a leg that cannot walk and a limping body? These two processes never previously appeared separately. The body does not originally include two such processes—a non-walking leg and a limping body. They were originated at the stoppage. If there had already been two separate processes, the continuing process (the body) could not have been new. In that case, the body would continue in a way it already knew.

We take the whole process as inseparable. What continues has never occurred without what has stopped. Thus, the division is new, and what continues is new.

What Happens to the Living Body When the Stopped Process Resumes?

The living body, without the stopped process, has continued to live in a way different from what it would have been had the process not stopped. In this way, it has also developed and changed. When the stopped process resumes, it does so into a living body that has changed—one that continued and developed during the stoppage. When it resumes, there will be a new whole. For example, the arms have grown stronger (from holding crutches), the body is less symmetrical than before, there is an ongoing sense of capability, skill in riding a motorcycle, and so on.

It is interesting to reflect on the idea of the body that continues despite the process or processes that have stopped. Life finds a way to continue, despite stoppages —even significant ones. There is a capacity for healing and recovery…

In Closing

One can look at these ideas through the following situations:

• Not understanding something:
  The process that stops—lack of understanding.
  The process that continues—the body continues to live without understanding.
• A quarrel with someone close:
  The process that stops—relationship with a close person.
  The process that continues—the body continues with the heaviness of the quarrel and the absence of a dear one.
• Illness:
  The process that stops—weakness, pain that prevents functioning as usual.
  The process that continues—the body continues to live, not at its best.

A final question: After the stopped process has resumed—are there now two separate processes within the whole? This question belongs to the old model—either one process or two processes. The answer will wait for the next post.